19. The Prayer of the Messenger Paul
he Prayer of the Messenger Paul is a lovely prayer, with apparent
Valentinian features. For Valentinians Paul was a special messen-
ger, and they maintained that Paul was the teacher of Theudas and
Theudas the teacher of Valentinos. The prayer opens with a meditation on in-
timacy with god, who is the mind, treasure, fullness, and rest for the one pray-
ing: "My redeemer, redeem me, I am yours. I came from you." The prayer then
requests authority, that the body may be healed, the soul redeemed, and the
mind granted "the fullness of grace." Lastly, the prayer asks for enlightenment
in words that recall Gospel of Thomas 17 and 1 Corinthians 2:6, and it closes
with a doxology and a final amen. The reference in the last section of the
prayer to "the animate god [or the psychical god]," as well as the "eyes of an-
gels" and the "ears of rulers [or archons]," is reminiscent of Valentinian and
other gnostic texts.
The Prayer of the Messenger Paul is also the first text of Nag Hammadi
Codex I, which may well be a Valentinian book. It was copied onto the front
flyleaf of the codex, probably after the scribe had copied the rest of the texts in
that codex. The prayer was composed in Greek, but precisely when, where,
and by whom remains unknown. It is attributed to Paul, pseudonymously, in
the title at the end of the text.
1HHBBHHMI
r I "f